When surfing the web with an Android smartphone, the horror news suddenly comes: viruses damage the cell phone - or even the battery! You should tap a download button very quickly to prevent even more damage - before the displayed countdown has expired. STOP! If you do that, the damage will actually happen.
What's actually going on?
Such reports are advertising. It appears while you are surfing the Internet. If you do other things on your phone, they don't appear. In some cases the phone even vibrates. This is possible with the help of Javascript, but ultimately it's nothing more than an effect to unsettle you even more.
The warnings are often written in bad German. Sometimes they have logos of well-known companies, such as Google, to appear more credible. It will also be displayed which device you are using or which operating system. This is because your browser automatically sends this information to the website.
The pest lurks behind the scareware
Such false virus warnings are called scareware. The word is a combination of the English “scare” and “software”. It is intended to scare people and encourage them to take rash actions. The “virus warning” is intended to make you install a new app. It then infects your system, possibly spies on your data, perhaps sends expensive premium SMS messages or possibly paralyzes your entire cell phone.
The makers of this advertising continually find ways to infiltrate their messages into large advertising networks so that they can also appear on reputable websites. In this way, subscription traps can lurk, for example. Although many network providers are already taking countermeasures here, you should still have a third-party block set up for your mobile Internet as a precaution!
This is what you should do with “virus warnings”.
If you see a message like this, above all, stay cool! And then:
- Close the browser app.
- Open your smartphone's settings.
- Tap on the “Applications” item (on some devices this is also called “Application Manager”, “Apps” or similar).
- Find your browser app that you use to access the Internet and tap it.
- In the Storage section, tap Clear Cache. If you still get annoying messages, repeat all the steps up to this point and tap “Delete data”. Note: This will cause already opened tabs and possibly saved form data to disappear.
- If you use different browsers, repeat this with all the others to be on the safe side.
- Such ads can also be triggered by apps. So consider whether you may have installed new apps before the messages appeared and delete them again.
Special case Facebook app
As we, Mimikama, reported , such reports once appeared increasingly in the Facebook app. To curb this, you can set the app to open links in a different browser. To do this, tap on the three bars at the top right of the Facebook app (if you're using Android), scroll to "Settings and privacy" and open the drop-down menu, then tap "Settings" and scroll down to "Media and contacts". . You tap it and activate “Links are opened externally”.
Better safe than sorry
And then there are virus protection apps. We discuss whether you need it or not in the article about smartphone virus protection . Ad blockers also prevent advertising from being displayed. However, this also threatens website operators with a loss of income and some have blocked their websites from users with ad blockers.
If you install apps, it is best to only install them from the official stores of your device manufacturers and your operating systems. Apple, for example, doesn't allow installations except via the App Store anyway - unless you manipulate your iPhone by jailbreaking it.
On Android, you can set your phone to only allow apps to be installed from secure sources. To do this, in Android 9 or older, tap “Device Security” (or similar) in the “Settings”. “Unknown sources” must not be ticked or the slider must be set to “off”.
If you have Android 10 or newer, go to “Security” in the settings and then “Install unknown apps”. There you can specify for each individual app whether new apps can be installed via them. To be on the safe side, all controls here should be set to off!
Serious safety instructions
You can find them, for example, in the phishing radar of the NRW Consumer Center .
You might also be interested in: “ Wrong antivirus software and virus protection ”
Source: checked4U
If you enjoyed this post and value the importance of well-founded information, become part of the exclusive Mimikama Club! Support our work and help us promote awareness and combat misinformation. As a club member you receive:
📬 Special Weekly Newsletter: Get exclusive content straight to your inbox.
🎥 Exclusive video* “Fact Checker Basic Course”: Learn from Andre Wolf how to recognize and combat misinformation.
📅 Early access to in-depth articles and fact checks: always be one step ahead.
📄 Bonus articles, just for you: Discover content you won't find anywhere else.
📝 Participation in webinars and workshops : Join us live or watch the recordings.
✔️ Quality exchange: Discuss safely in our comment function without trolls and bots.
Join us and become part of a community that stands for truth and clarity. Together we can make the world a little better!
* In this special course, Andre Wolf will teach you how to recognize and effectively combat misinformation. After completing the video, you have the opportunity to join our research team and actively participate in the education - an opportunity that is exclusively reserved for our club members!
Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )

